No. 13 Illinois hosts No. 23 Nebraska after Wagler’s 23-point game

By Canadian Press on December 13, 2025.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-0, 1-0 Big Ten) at Illinois Fighting Illini (8-2, 1-0 Big Ten)

Champaign, Illinois; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 13 Illinois hosts No. 23 Nebraska after Keaton Wagler scored 23 points in Illinois’ 88-80 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Fighting Illini have gone 6-0 at home. Illinois averages 88.6 points while outscoring opponents by 18.2 points per game.

The Cornhuskers play their first true road game after going 10-0 to start the season. Nebraska averages 83.9 points and has outscored opponents by 16.8 points per game.

Illinois makes 47.8% of its shots from the field this season, which is 10.3 percentage points higher than Nebraska has allowed to its opponents (37.5%). Nebraska has shot at a 48.2% rate from the field this season, 7.7 percentage points higher than the 40.5% shooting opponents of Illinois have averaged.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kylan Boswell is scoring 15.7 points per game and averaging 4.4 rebounds for the Fighting Illini. Wagler is averaging 14.7 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 43.6%.

Rienk Mast is scoring 18.0 points per game and averaging 6.5 rebounds for the Cornhuskers. Pryce Sandfort is averaging 15.6 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press